Wired News:
02:00 AM Jul, 21, 2006
As we drove back down the hill we could clearly see new billows of smoke rising beyond our neighborhood, and a loud double blast shook the air just as we were turning into our driveway. A minute later, the power went out. The generator took over so we could get the groceries up in the elevator, to find my mom upstairs giggling madly because the blast had made her jump 3 feet in the air from the sofa. It’s just like the “good ol’ days” again, we slipped right back into war mode without missing a beat. I often wondered if I could handle a war now as well as I did as a kid. So far so good.—“Mana,” in her blog Manamania, captures the scene in Beirut, Lebanon

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Mana is in her mid-20s and lives with her parents in an apartment near the city center of Beirut. She’s been blogging about the Israel-Lebanon conflict since it began more than a week ago, and her posts, such as the one above, have turned her LiveJournal account into a gathering point for vibrant and surprisingly conciliatory discussions by both Lebanese and Israelis.Link

boingboing.net:
Blogging the yet-unnamed war, from northern Israel.
BoingBoing reader Melly in Israel writes, “I’m Canadian but flew to Israel on Tuesday the 18th to be with my family who lives in the northern part of Israel.” She’s blogging her experience here. Snip:

Alright, I’ll admit it. I’m scared. About half an hour ago there was a series of nearby explosions without the warning of a siren. So far, this is the most scared I’ve been. So far, I’ve counted on the sirens to at least warn us.

[My] parents live in a north-facing apartment. Meaning, an apartment facing Lebanon, where the rockets are coming from. Without a siren, we’re very exposed as there is pretty much only the corridor that can serve as an inner room, as futile as it may sound. My heart doesn’t stop racing and I have that bitter fear taste in my mouth.Link to boingboing.net

More from boingboing.net:
Mazen Kerbaj’s daily comicblogging from Beirut.
Previous posts about his work here and here. From today’s batch of drawings, this one about a 5-year-old relative stuck in the warzone with a gaming console to comfort him.Link